I'm Ali Spagnola, the artist that's been taking requests for what to paint for over 6 years. I've just reached 2,000 Free Paintings paintings mailed all over the world to the strangers that requested them. AMA

I have one of your paintings (moth riding a bull). I requested it while drunk, late at night on my birthday in 2010 while on Reddit. I totally forgot about my request until you emailed me almost exactly 2 years later asking me if I still wanted it. It blew me away! You're awesome!

I love hearing this!! Lots of people (like seriously, most) don't email me back once they physically get their painting. I always wonder if it's because they feel guilty for not donating or something. So it's rare to hear I'm appreciated :) and it makes my day. Thank YOU for being a part of this project.

Agreed. Anyone who does 2000 free paintings is pretty awesome... let alone all of your other artistic avenues! If pressed and you had to go back to "normal" work, what kind of work would you choose? ...Actually, let's skip that question... negative thinking is not allowed! Even hypothetically!!!

You know how I found out about you? YOU started to follow me on Twitter. I have yet to do your drinking game with some friends but because you're follow you're probably the coolest person to interact with on the internet. Keep up the hard, badass work.

Combining hard/unusual, I'd have to say this Daft Punk painting. I was based on an illustration that's based off of those scratch drawings we did as kids. So I imitated and artist imitating a weird medium.

Given that you seem to get soooooo many requests, and have a tiered donation system, how much would someone have to donate to realistically be moved up on the list (& on what kind of time frame would that be?)?

When I studied abroad in Italy, I created a series of clay robots for a gallery. Since I had to fly home to the US, I couldn't bring them with me so I invited people at the gallery to just take them. It was super fun! So when I got back to the US I started creating paintings for people to take from galleries (scroll down a bit on that page). From there I wanted to grow the project even more so I took to teh internetz.

Sometimes I have my dad pick up my canvases because I'm too lazy to drive to the art store. Plus I buy them in bulk and 100 canvases at a time are heavy! So, thanks dad! (I hope he's secretly a redditor)

Mess:
"I would like a painting of teetering stack of pies with a shark looking at them with a hungry and mischevious look on his face with maybe some rainbows in the background. And the lucky charms cereal marshmallow shapes floating i nthe sky. That would be pretty rad. Oh and if you can maybe Christopher Walken on the other side of the pies also looking hungry. And somewhere on the paintign it should say 'Oh crap.'"

Then someone topped that with Mess in Space:
"A stagecoach being driven by the Aladdin Genie, pulled by a pack of Yodas, in Hot pursuit of a Viking robot on a Unicorn. The trail of the unicorn should be all rainbowy and sparkly. The setting of this portrait is clearly in space."

Challenging for me is when people ask for landscapes or environments around their characters. I do best when its a single character that I can put on a bright background.

Glad you like! I came up with it because I knew no one wanted to buy CDs anymore but I wanted my album to be an object for people to physically desire. I was actually a sculpture major so that's where I get my drive to create something more than a digital file.

So what cooler way to make a Power Hour Album physical than to allow you to drink out of it?? The Shot Glass USB was born. (After a couple years of hard work developing it haha)

PBR light. Cheap, low calorie and a good stunt beer (for Power Hours, funneling, shotgunning, etc.) But that's only because it would have to be light to drink it at all occasions. Normally I like stouts and porters.

Heck yeah it is! At first, it was coming out of my own pocket. Now, some people are nice enough to donate so I pretty much break even. I'm pretty sure I'm the reason the United States Postal Service hasn't gone under yet.

Yeah sometimes I get fed up with it. Sometimes it's this weird thing where I feel crappy when I haven't done it but I don't necessarily feel accomplished when I do it. Like brushing your teeth. When you brush your teeth at night, you don't say "WOO! Kickass! I brushed my teeth! Go me!" but if you don't do it you think, "Crap. I realllly should have done that."

But recently it's been really rewarding because of this big 2,000 milestone so I've been excited

I do sometimes wonder if I could have been really super successful at something else had I put that much effort in a different direction. But it's been fun and I'm pretty proud of this 2,000 milestone so I don't regret it at all

Donations from generous people that liked their paintings has kept me going. People paying it forward has basically allowed me to break even and I <3 them for that!

I use USPS and I pay for shipping. I can't use a tube because they're on thick canvas boards, so I mail them flat. Me and my postman are good buddies now because I go so often. We've even drank together. Though he does dread when I walk in the door because I usually wait about a month and then mail 30 all at once. The people in line hate me.

I requested a painting from you 2 years ago, you said I was about 200 away, yet I've never heard back/received my painting. I've had friends request paintings since then and they've gotten there's. I'm not upset, I'm just wondering what happened? :)

I email the person about 3 times, a few weeks apart. If I still don't hear back, I usually send it to people that ask for charity auction donations or requesters that say I can send them whatever I'd like.

A few times I've been able to find people who changed their email addresses by hunting them down on Facebook, LinkedIn, their personal website, etc.

Although the subjects of your art in this project are driven by request, there's a clear understanding of just about all the pop culture involved, tying into the blog entries and the visual qualities of the art (e.g. pixelation). Have you ever had to research any of your subjects, or do you pretty much know all of them already? Also, I find it to be an example of how art inspiring art inspiring art can produce originality. What are your thoughts about original ideas, derived works, inspiration, and their circular relationships?

Oh man, I research all the time! Thank goodness for Wikipedia and Google Image search. And I think it's absolutely crazy that when I image search something for reference, in a few days, my new painting will show up under that same search!

This question totally leads me to think copyright law immediately. Innovation is recombination. Those inspirations and circular relationships are integral to creativity. Of course, there's a certain famous mouse that's trying to put a halt to that.

There are about 1,500 people on the wait list. One a day puts that at a bit over 4 years. Then you have to account for people skipping the line with donations throughout those years. So a looooong time.

This is a really awesome project. I really like your style. I'm currently debating if I should email you a request, mostly because I know it'll be a long time before you can paint me something awesome. I'm a broke college graduate so money is tight. Can you put on your Ron Popeil hat and explain why it will be worth it for me to donate? Also, how far up the waiting lists do donors go?

Taking random suggestions from stranger, and it is hilarious the requests I get. What are some of the most absurd requests you have gotten? Or ones you had to turn down because of how ridiculous they were? For instance I was recently asked to paint a giant godzilla penis attacking a city... which did make me laugh. But I don't know if I am really ready to handle a cock that size.

Hey Ali, <> club friend here. Congrats on all the things. Did you ever decide if you're coming to SDCC this year? And if so impromptu low-key drink up? Chinbeard is crashing at my pad for the weekend and I'm sure if you were added to the mix we may blow the roof off the place _z

I went to high school with you (though I am much younger), and you were/are good friends with my older brother. No question, just good luck in your future endeavors and congratulations on winning your lawsuit!

P.S. you should have put something about your Power Hour/Shotglass USB in the title too!

Because people have a hard time wrapping their heads around it. You need to put yourself in a box and be an easily-digestible elevator pitch. Being an "artist" and a "party musician" is hard to make sense of in an instant. I feel I can't have dimensions to my personality on the internet so I try to keep the project separate. It's not that I like it that way, I just know I have to yield to what is the best way of getting your message across.

Just one. Someone asked for Anna Nicole Smith in Clown Makeup right after she died. I felt weird about it and almost didn't do it. Then it ended up looking really crappy so I felt even worse about it hah! Perhaps venting about it on the internet will help me feel better.

Other than that, I'll occasionally think one is extra cool and feel a little twinge of desire to hang on to it but that's promptly replaced with a bigger desire to get it out of my house and make someone else happy.

hi ali! I received the comedy & drama masks from you, and then got another one (robot?) for my husbo. sometime after my requests, I got a job and gave a small bit back to the cause. just wanted to say congrats on the success of this project and thanks for paying it forward.

I'm a doodler, and I usually stick to sharpie. I'd love to try goofing around with paint, though, because the colors are so vibrant! What type would you recommend mucking about with at first? Acrylic? Oil? Fingerpaint?